By Eva Spangler, Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy of Unsplash
The landscape of college athletics is changing faster than ever. Traditional rivalries rooted in geography have given way to a new era of coast-to-coast travel, as schools chase media deals and prestige in the wake of widespread conference realignment.[1] The once-stable Power 5, which consisted of the most prominent college athletic conferences in the country, has shrunk to the Power 4: the ACC, the Big 10, the Big 12, and the SEC.[2] Caught in the middle of this seismic shift is the PAC-12, a former pillar conference of college athletics now fighting for survival and relevance. Due to ten of its twelve-member schools departing the conference over the last two years, the PAC-12 effectively folded.[3] This allowed the remaining Power 4 conferences to consolidate power and television rights.[4]
After losing ten of its twelve member schools in 2022 and 2023 to other Power 4 conferences, the PAC-12’s future looked bleak. Big-name schools that drove revenue, like the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, were gone, and media rights negotiations with ESPN, Apple TV, and CBS had all fallen apart.[5]
Oregon State and Washington State were the only member schools left in the conference. To keep the football programs of the two schools alive, the PAC-12 entered into a scheduling agreement in December 2023 with the Mountain West Conference, a smaller, non-Power 4 Division I athletic conference that primarily consists of schools located in the American Southwest.[6]
The agreement included a key provision: if any Mountain West school left their conference for the PAC-12, the PAC-12 would owe Mountain West a hefty termination fee.[7] However, a merger of the two conferences would allow Mountain West schools to join the PAC-12 at no cost.[8] That clause became critical when four Mountain West schools – Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State, and Utah State – announced their plans to leave the Mountain West and join the PAC-12 in 2026.[9]
In what may be its final attempt to stay in the game, the PAC-12 threw a legal “Hail Mary.” The PAC-12 filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California, arguing that the termination fee clause violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, California’s Cartwright Act, and California’s Unfair Competition Law.[10] The PAC-12 claims the termination fee clause unfairly restricted competition by discouraging Mountain West schools from joining the PAC-12, depleting the PAC-12’s financial resources, and making it harder for the conference to rebuild in an increasingly monopolized media market dominated by Power-4 schools.[11]
The Mountain West fired back with a motion to dismiss, asserting that the PAC-12 failed to plead a plausible antitrust claim.[12] Judge Susan Van Keulen disagreed with Mountain West, ruling that the PAC-12 met the plausibility standard necessary for the case to move forward.[13] Proceedings are paused until an initial case management conference in mid-November, but colleges and universities across the country are already wondering what this means for their athletic programs.[14]
If the court rules in favor of the PAC-12, the future of the Mountain West is in limbo. Without the millions of dollars in termination fees, the conference would be unable to pass the money along to remaining members.[15] That inability to pay member schools creates a possibility that remaining Mountain West Schools, like the Air Force Academy and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, could sue to void their membership agreements with the conference and head elsewhere.[16]
If the Mountain West prevails, the PAC-12’s progress in reinvigorating the conference could be halted. The millions of dollars they would pay in termination fees could be put towards creating a new media infrastructure that could compete with that of the Power-4.[17]
Either way, PAC-12 v. Mountain West is more than just a contract dispute: it’s a defining moment for the future of not just college football, but of college athletics. For the PAC-12 this lawsuit is not just about money or membership. It is about survival. In a time where college sports are increasingly ruled by dollars and dominance, this lawsuit is the definition of a Hail Mary: one last desperate heave towards the end zone to stay in the game, with the future of the balance of power in college sports hanging in the air.
[1] https://journals.law.harvard.edu/jsel/2024/06/breaking-the-broadcast-huddle-how-college-football-conferences-bundling-of-broadcast-rights-could-harm-student-athletes/
[2] https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/45898458/pac-12-future-mountain-west-conference-realignment-2025
[3] https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-08-16/pac-12-collapse-decisions-realignment-ucla-oregon
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/45898458/pac-12-future-mountain-west-conference-realignment-2025
[7] PAC-12 Conference v. Mountain West Conference, No. 24-cv-06685-SVK, WL 2781313 (N.D. Cal. 2025).
[8] Id.
[9] https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/45898458/pac-12-future-mountain-west-conference-realignment-2025
[10] PAC-12 Conference v. Mountain West Conference, No. 24-cv-06685-SVK, WL 2781313 (N.D. Cal. 2025).
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/oct/01/a-grip-on-sports-its-not-even-the-legal-equivalent/
[16] Id.
[17] https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/45898458/pac-12-future-mountain-west-conference-realignment-2025